United States experimental aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California, United States. Two ground crew members operate theodolite tracking camera with a radar in the background. Telemetry equipment in operation. Men look through binoculars. Lieutenant Colonel Frank Everest seated in the cockpit with his hands on the controls. U.S. Air Force Bell X-2 release from U.S. Air Force B-50 Superfortress and begins a solo flight. Radar tracks the flight course. U.S. Air Force F-86 Sabre and T-33 aircraft fly along Bell X-2. Bell X-2 aircraft lands on Rogers Dry Lake Bed. Ambulance, fire brigade and other vehicles next to the aircraft. Pilot removes his helmet and comes out of the aircraft.
Captain James Jahara of Kansas returns to his home base in Korea during the Korean War. American F-86 Sabre jet aircraft taxis. Captain James Jahara of Kansas, ranking American jet pilot in the Korean Theater of operations, returns to his home base after his latest battle with Russian MIGs over the Yalu River. A man signals for the landing of the jet. Captain James Jahara is in the cockpit. He gets off from the jet. His friends congratulate him.
USAF Major General Reuben Columbus Hood Jr. visits Cuba during his goodwill tour. An USAF F-86 as it flies in low over beach, makes a climb. Spectators watch diamond-shaped formation of the Thunderbirds. The formation as it banks and completes a barrel roll. Several views of the Thunderbirds performing. General Hood and President of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar. Views of the president. Views of the secret Police. American flag flying full mast, palm tree in the foreground. Several views of spectators. The Cuban flag flying full mast. Coast line of Havana, Cuba. Street scene along the beach area of Havana, Cuba.
USAFE ( United States Air Force in Europe ) Flight Safety film illustrating the kinds of errors that can cause aircraft accidents. A Flight Safety Officer points to photograph of a crashed F-86 airplane and lectures to pilots. He says that most of accidents occur because of minor mistakes. A Captain, pilot, naps during the lecture. The most common pilot errors in USAFE written on a blackboard. After ignoring the lecture, the Captain prepares a flight plan at Base Operations. He fails to check NOTAMS (notices to Airmen)and declines assistance from Base weather officer. He performs perfunctory preflight inspection, initials Form 1, and taxis for takeoff breathing 100% oxygen. After takeoff, he levels at 30 thousand feet and makes position report. Sensing hypoxia, he sees oxygen depleted and must dive to lower safe altitude (where fuel consumption rate is too high). He tunes destination radio beacon, becomes disoriented and calls for steer to destination, which is below minimums for GCA (ground controlled approach). He goes to Alternate, has trouble with landing gear, runs low on fuel, and luckily lands safely, but runs out of fuel and must be towed to parking place. A litany of his mistakes is recounted.
A straight-wing Republic F-84E Thunderjet of the USAF 86th Fighter-Bomber Wing landing at Neubiberg Air Base near Munich, Germany. A USAF C-47 is holding short on the taxiway. Next, a crash truck is seen stationed on the taxiway.Across the field, Two C-47s, a B-17, and a C-54 are parked. Scene shifts to closeup of a tank truck carrying JP-3 fuel, parked next an 86th Wing F-84. An airman sits on the plane's left tip tank. The fuel truck operator and another airman pull two refueling hoses from the truck and carry them to airmen sitting on the aircraft's tip tanks. The aircraft is parked on Marsden Matting aka pierced steel planking. Closeup of the airman on the plane's right wing takes his hose and inserting it into the right tip tank. Views of him filling the tank. Two airmen are behind the fuel truck. One watches the fuel gages. Scene shifts to two airmen mechanics atop the aircraft. They are assembling and installing an avionics component. Closeup of the aircraft's crew chief, TSgt G. Cavert, sitting on the wing , next to a painting on fuselage of the 527th Fighter-Bomber Squadron logo: a black crow holding a bomb over its head ready to throw it. The names: Col. G. Laven and TSgt G. Calvert are painted above and below the logo, respectively. (This aircraft is F-84E-30-RE Thunderjet number 51-624 flown by the commander of the 86th Fighter Bomber Group, Colonel George Laven Jr. who flies with the 527th Fighter-Bomber Squadron.) Next several of the 86th Wing's aircraft are seen parked, and one airman is seated near an anti-aircraft gun, while another plays catch with someone, unseen.
Republic F-84E-10-RE straight-wing Thunderjet aircraft of the USAF 86th Fighter-Bomber Wing are seen parked on grass at Neubiberg Air Base, near Munich, Germany. They display the Wing's checkerboard tail, nose, and tip tank markings. An F-84,with FS-256 stenciled on its fuselage, taxis on a narrow concrete strip between the other aircraft, and then proceeds onto a main taxiway. Next, the camera pans across the large grassy field, and focuses on an F-84 as it takes off. Across the runway, in the distant background, hangars and several parked aircraft can be seen. Camera pans, again, showing grass and a stake post, in the ground. Another F-84 takes off. Two C-47s and a MATS (Military Air Transport Service) C-54 are parked on the ramp in the background. Two C-47s taxi in the background, as another F-84 takes off. A GCA (Ground-controlled approach) radar installation is seen parked at the side of the runway.